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Southwest HVAC News
ASHRAE Awards
First Innovative Research Grants.
ASHRAE has awarded projects at Purdue
University and Oklahoma State University with its newly created
research grant, which provides funding for research having the
potential to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in HVAC&R.
ASHRAE has awarded projects at Purdue
University and Oklahoma State University with its newly created
research grant, which provides funding for research having the
potential to significantly advance the state-of-the-art in HVAC&R.
The ASHRAE Innovative Research Grant carries a base grant of $50,000
per year for two years, with an additional $25,000 available in the
third year if matched by an industrial contributor.
“Our goal with the new grant is to encourage more out-of-the-box
research to complement the research proposed and guided now by
ASHRAE technical committees,” T. Agami Reddi, chair of ASHRAE’s
Research Administration Committee, said. “We see it as providing
seed money to encourage ‘blue sky research’ that may otherwise not
be funded initially through other means.”
Recipients are Lorenzo Cremaschi, Ph.D., associate professor, School
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University;
and William Hutzel, P.E., professor, Mechanical Engineering
Technology Department, Purdue University.
Cremaschi’s project, “Smart Nanolubricants for HVAC&R Systems,”
focuses on nanoparticles with purposely different conductivity, size
and shape. The research will advance the understanding of the
interactions of the nanoparticles with refrigerant and lubricant
flow boiling at the nano- and micro-scale levels, for which no
previous studies exist. Story
continues below ↓
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“This research opens
a new frontier for nanotechnology applied to air conditioning
and refrigeration systems,” he said. “Driven by higher energy
efficiency targets, there is critical need of major heat
transfer enhancements in heat exchangers and nanolubricants,
which are defined as nanoparticles suspended in high-viscosity
suspensions, have the potential to address such need in a
cost-neutral manner for both new and retrofitting residential
air conditioning applications.”
Hutzel’s project, “Biowall Research,” will evaluate a biowall,
which integrates plants with the return air of a residential or
light commercial HVAC system to remove CO2 and volatile organic
compounds. Americans spend 90-95 percent of their time indoors
where levels of pollutants may run 2 to 5 times, and
occasionally more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels,
according to Hutzel. Many of these pollutants cause adverse
health reactions in building occupants, which can contribute to
lower worker productivity and increased sick leave.
Traditional methods of indoor pollutant control in sealed
buildings typically use some form of dilution ventilation using
outdoor air. The outdoor air must be heated or cooled to meet
indoor temperature and humidity requirements and represents a
major thermal load of a building.
“This research will demonstrate and evaluate a novel
biofiltration system that improves indoor air quality and has
the potential for decreasing overall energy use by,” he said.
ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is a building technology society with
more than 50,000 members worldwide. The Society and its members
focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air
quality, refrigeration and sustainability. Through research,
standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing
education, ASHRAE shapes tomorrow’s built environment today.
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